Contribute photos to BBC Wildlife

General photography

BBC Wildlife welcomes photographic submissions, but please bear in mind that we do work with a large number of photographic agencies, as well as more than 100 professional wildlife photographers worldwide.

To illustrate regular sections of the magazine, such as Wild, Agenda, Q&A, etc, we contact the most appropriate agencies and professionals. This allows us to view a vast selection of pictures with great efficiency and minimal administration.

If you would like to submit your images for our consideration, please make sure that you have first familiarised yourself with the magazine and the quality and type of photography we use.

If yours are of a comparable standard then email your 10 best shots as low res jpgs (under 1MB) to Tom Gilks along with your full contact details.

Please title the jpgs with the species common name first, then the Latin name for insects and rare species, and then your name last.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of correspondence he receives, Tom will not be able to acknowledge your submission, but he will view your images, assess their appropriateness for publication and keep them on file.

Then, if an opportunity to publish them arises, he will contact you to request the high res and discuss terms of usage.I’m sorry but we only send out our regular ‘wants’ list to a limited number of professional photographers.

If you have any further enquiries about use of images in BBC Wildlife, please email Tom Gilks (10am–6pm, Monday–Wednesday) or call 0117 314 7366.

Photo stories

If you have considered all of the above, and have not just individual photos, but a large body of work making up a photo story that you would like to pitch, then here is some useful advice.

Please note:

Before you submit your idea, read BBC Wildlife and familiarise yourself with our usual photographic content and type of feature.

Make sure your idea has not been covered recently by browsing our back issues.

Ask yourself – which section of the magazine would your idea be most suitable for? What would the angle be? How would it surprise and delight our readers? When should we run it and why? If you can answer these questions, then your pitch has a greater chance of success.

Then ask yourself – who would write the copy to go with your images? Remember that BBC Wildlife requires not just stunning photography, but a compelling story, written by a skilled writer or expert in the field, who can share exciting new insights into the subject. Though you may know a lot about your chosen subject, are you really the best possible writer? Have you written for our kind of audience before?

If you have worked with a scientist, researcher or charity on your photo story, could they write the copy? If so, simply provide their contact details with your pitch. If not, you can provide just the photos and leave it to us to find a suitable author, though – if we accept your images - this will delay their publication significantly.

Then send an email, outlining your story idea in no more than one or two paragraphs (150 words), and covering the points above, to section editor Sarah McPherson and the picture editor Tom Gilks.

Attach 10 of your best shots that illustrate your story to the email as low res jpgs (no more than 1MB).

Do not send high res images unless requested as these take too long to load and as a result may not be viewed.

We do accept CDs of images, but email is preferred.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of correspondence we receives, we are not able to acknowledge or give feedback on unsolicited photo story pitches unless they are successful.

If they are successful, you will be contacted to discuss the development of your idea and asked to send more photos.

Please e-mail images that you would like to be considered to Megan Shersby. If you are submitting an image to be used on the website, please include the online article you would like your image to be considered for.

Please bear in mind that no fee will paid for images used on social media or on our website.

Letters

There is more information on submitting letters and accompanying photos on this webpage. We really want to hear from you, but are afraid that due to the large amount of correspondence we received, we are not able to acknowledge them or reply personally.

Please bear in mind that no fee will be paid for images submitted with a letter.